I love the idea of Menial, a new anthology from the peeps at Crossed Genres coming in January. We've had plenty of anthologies about space admirals and cosmic heroes — but how about the people who actually get their hands dirty keeping the spaceship flying? The engineers, mechanics, and even sanitation workers?

Here's the official description:

MENIAL: Skilled Labor in Science Fiction presents seventeen stories about the people who aren't afraid to get their hands dirty.

From the literal guts of a spaceship, to the energy-starved lands of a future Earth, to the inhospitable surfaces of other planets, MENIAL explores the stories of people who understand and maintain the building blocks of civilization. They work hard, live hard, and love hard. They're not afraid to build the future they want to live in, even knowing the often high human cost of hard labor.

Check out the table of contents — including the intriguing title "Snowball the Rabbit Was Dead" — at the link. [Crossed Genres via SFSignal]